Ukraine loses its first F-16

Ukraine has lost its first F-16 in a combat operation, with the aircraft destroyed and the pilot killed. That much has been officially confirmed by Ukraine’s Air Force; exactly where and how the shootdown happened remains unclear.

The destroyed F-16 was an early fourth-generation aircraft that was upgraded before delivery to Ukraine. That model carries modern air-to-air missiles for self-protection and can deliver cruise missiles, glide bombs and other weapons.

The US 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing, the US Air Force’s leading electronic warfare unit, upgraded the electronic warfare systems of Netherlands-supplied F-16s to deal with Russian jamming threats.

The plane’s radar was improved (AN/APG-66), and systems were adapted for some of the newest weapons. Ukraine claimed that an F-16 hadalready shot down some Russian cruise missiles.

With only a handful of F-16s delivered to Ukraine, the Ukrainian Air Force has not tried so far to engage directly with Russian fighter or bomber aircraft. Nor have the Ukrainians used the F-16s, at least so far, in any engagement that would expose them to Russian air defense systems.

That could change in the future with more aircraft deliveries, although qualified pilots are in short supply. The Ukrainian pilot who was killed was Lieutenant Colonel Oleksii Mas. He was an experienced pilot and one of the first Ukrainian pilots trained on the F-16.

The early information suggested the pilot was killed in an airstrike at a Ukrainian airbase. Now the Ukrainian Air Force tells us that the pilot was killed and his jet destroyed in combat.

Below is the Rybar account of the announcement:

We do not know if the F-16 was hit by a Russian missile or, if it was, what type. The F-16 allegedly was